Flight Distance Any observant people have noticed that a wild animal will allow

Flight Distance

Any observant people have noticed that awild animal will allow a man or other potential enemy to approach only up to agiven distance before it escapes. “Flight distance” is the terms used for thisinterspecies spacing. As a general rule, there is a positive relationshipbetween the size of an animal and its flight distance --- the larger theanimal, the greater the distance it must keep between itself and the enemy. Anantelope will escape when the enemy is as much as five hundred yards away. Thewall lizard’s flight distance, on the other hand, is about six feet. Flight isthe basic means of survival for mobile creatures.

Critical Distance

Critical distance apparently is presentwherever and whenever there is a flight reaction. “Critical distance” includesthe narrow zone separating flight distance from attack distance. A lion in azoo will flee from an approaching man until it meets a barrier that it cannotovercome. If the man continues the approach, he soon penetrates（穿过，透过）the lion’s criticaldistance, at which point the cornered lion turns back and begins slowly stalk（逼近）the man.

Social Distance

Social animals need to stay in touch witheach other. Loss of contact with the group can be fatal （致命的）for a variety of reasonsincluding exposure to enemies. Social distance is not simply the distance atwhich an animal will lose contact with his group --- that is, the distance atwhich it can no longer see, hear, or smell the group --- it is rather apsychological distance, one at which the animal apparently begins to feelanxious when it goes beyond its limits. We can think of it as a hidden bandthat contains the group.

Social distance varies from species tospecies. It is quite short --- apparently only a few yards --- among someanimals, and quite long among others.

Social distance is not always rigidly（刻板的）fixed but is determined inpart by the situation. When the young of apes and humans are mobile but not yetunder control of the mother’s voice, social distance may be the length of herreach. This is readily observed among baboons（狒狒）in a zoo. When the baby approaches a certainpoint, the mother reaches out to seize the end of its tail and pull it back toher. When added control is needed because of danger, social distance shortens.To show this in man, one has only to watch a family with a number of smallchildren holding hands as they cross a busy street.

1.Which of the following is the mostsuitable explanation to “Flight distance”?

2.If a lion’s critical distance ispenetrated, it will ________

3.The example of the children holding handswhen crossing the street in the last paragraph           

shows that ________.

4.Which of the following one can be thebest title of the passage?

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.B

【解析】略